The staff of Transcending Obscurity have come up with a list of 2016 highlights! Check it out!
http://tometal.com/special-feature-best ... ined-list/

"Stretches of shimmering ambiance and abrasive layers of guitar suddenly shift into introspective, dreary melodies and slower passages without warning..."

Chris Dahlberg reviews the new Laster album, out January 9th on Dunkelheit Produktionen

http://tometal.com/review/laster-ons-vrije-fatum/

"Even on songs like Pergamentikkch Nemesis that start off with a slower tempo, there’s a consistent sinister feel to the tonality and the band has a tendency to whip things up into all-out chaos when you least expect it."

Chris Dahlberg reviews the new Paria mini-album, out now on World Terror Committee.
http://tometal.com/review/paria-knochenkamp/

"Growth is an inevitable change that extreme music as a whole can never avoid. Case in point is the New York based four piece Black Anvil. These guys have been consistently evolving, exploring new directions with each new release, all the while maintaining their core black metal sound. Black Anvil is now set to unveil their fourth full length titled ‘As Was’ and this album is the most adventurous the band has ever been."

Black Anvil are set to release their new album 'As Was' on Relapse Records and Shrivatsan reviews it. You can check out his review here: http://tometal.com/review/black-anvil-as-was/

"Over eight and a half minutes the tempo naturally rises and falls, whipping things up into a faster attack that’s reminiscent of Coffins before letting them fall back into much slower, ritualistic territory."

Chris Dahlberg reviews the debut EP from Spectral Apparition, available on cassette from Invictus Productions.
http://tometal.com/review/spectral-appa ... festation/

Ill Neglect and LAMBS ‡ are releasing a 7" split called 'Trisma' this Friday the 13th.

We have an album stream for you plus Shrivatsan's review of the split here:
http://tometal.com/album-stream-review- ... ect-lambs-%…/

"‘Sort Sind’ is noisy when it needs to be but gives enough space between the instrumentals to let the guitars scorch your skin with their heat and allow the drums to pummel you to a bloody pulp."

Chris Dahlberg reviews the newest album from Danish hardcore/punk band Halshug, out now on Southern Lord Recordings.
http://tometal.com/review/halshug-sort-sind/

Japan is a country that's filled with extreme music, but a lot of it sneaks under the radar. We here at TO want to change that and have teamed up with Kaala, a site specializing in Japan's extreme music scene, to give us an introduction. Founder Matt Ketchum has rounded up his top 3 releases to come out of the country for the year, check it out!
http://tometal.com/special-feature-kaal ... derground/

"Horn tend to hark back to the time where the music itself tended to be indicative of a band’s origins. Lyrics aside, the choice of melodies and samples tend to have a German twist to them, leaving no doubts as to where this band hails from. "

Horn (Official)'s new album 'Turm am Hang' reviewed!


http://tometal.com/review/horn-turm-hang/

Spanish death metal special!
- Avulsed Official
- Bokluk
- Come Back From the Dead
- Oniricous
- Reincarnation
- Reticulate
- Scent of Death
- Teitanblood
- Virulency
- Wormed
http://tometal.com/special-feature-span ... l-roundup/

"The fast moments bludgeon and carve away at your eardrums, while the slower sections let the filthy riffing expand outwards, coating everything in a layer of sludge and grime."
We know the TO readership likes their death metal, so check out an exclusive stream of Ekpyrosis' debut full length before its release January 23rd on Memento Mori alongside an interview with the band!

http://tometal.com/album-premiere-inter ... ekpyrosis/

" Ashenspire’s stylistic choices cannot be narrowed down to one specific style and the umbrella term of avant-garde is perhaps the most suitable descriptor considering the unconventional approach to the tracks here. The band’s debut full length ‘Speak not of the Laudanum Quandary’ is a dense, layered and emotional record that brings to mind other avant-garde acts like Dodheimsgard and A Forest of Stars, with the violins and piano elements strongly resembling the latter at some points. "

Glasgow based Ashenspire recently released their full length 'Speak not of the Laudanum Quandary' on Code666.
Here's our review of the record: http://tometal.com/…/ashenspire-speak-not-laundanum-quanda…/

"Tomb Mold manage to hit all the right spots with their songwriting skills, be it the murky crawl of Coincidences of Opposites or the thrash death vigor of tracks like Clockwise Metamorphosis, there is something for every death metal enthusiast here. "

Tomb Mold's Primordial Malignity reviewed! Out now on Blood Harvest Records

http://tometal.com/review/tomb-mold-pri ... malignity/

Album Stream time!

"Though This Ends Here and Conqueror Worm share very little common ground on paper (except for maybe the strong punk influences on both the bands’ sounds), they come together on this split in a way that the variety on the record is maintained while adhering a cohesive theme. There is a sense of hopelessness that dominates the atmosphere on this record and each band express in their own way the harsh realities of the modern world."

We have the upcoming split from This Ends Here and Conqueror Worm streaming in it's entirety in the link below! The split LP comes out on WOOAAARGH on the 24th of Feb.

http://tometal.com/album-premiere-revie ... -split-lp/

"Coming through in fine fashion, the band wastes no time here displaying the prototypical dark and churning sound that’s typically associated with the band. Efforts like “The Distorting Light,” “Rise the Heretics” and “Destructive Currents” fire off that ever familiar sense of dark, blasting rhythms and churning, swampy riff-work that generate the kind of oppressive, heavy-handed atmosphere that the band is famous for, and when kept to a wide array of tempos and rhythm shifts the music comes off even more dynamic."


Immolation's newest release 'Atonement' reviewed by Don Anelli. The album is currently out on Nuclear Blast:
http://tometal.com/review/immolation-atonement/

"Sunlight’s Bane has a sound that is much more than a straightforward mix of black metal and grindcore, despite the expectations set up by the opener Praise the Venom Shield. Starting off with a demonic shriek, this track brings together the best of groove centric modern grindcore riffs with a blackened atmosphere that makes the entire affair sound demonic. Begrudging Soul picks up right where the opener left off and continues the blackened grind assault, while also incorporating slower, doom-centric moments. "

Sunlight's Bane released their debut album 'The Blackest Volume: Like All The Earth Was Buried' on Innerstrength Records. Here's our review: http://tometal.com/review/sunlights-ban ... th-buried/

"You’ll find no beauty here. There will be no aching sense of longing, as commonly found in black metal of the atmospheric variety, nor the despairing yet cathartic release of depressive black metal. ‘Slaves of the Vast Machine’ is a mighty and terrible engine fueled by one thing: hate."

Eric Seal reviews the latest output from Obitus - Slaves of the Vast Machine. Out now on Hypnotic Dirge Records

Full review here: http://tometal.com/review/obitus-slaves ... t-machine/

We continue our coverage of death metal scenes around the world. For our second feature, we focus our attention on the Greek death metal scene.

Featuring:
SEPTICFLESH-official-
Rotting Christ (Hold on there. Read it before you comment "But RC is not death metal!)
Abyssus
Death Courier
Dead Congregation
Mass Infection
INVERACITY
Necrovorous
MURDER MADE GOD
Blessed By Perversion
Carnal Garden
The Psalm
SOULSKINNER


Words by Kunal Choksi, Chris Dahlberg, Don Anelli, John Man, Vidur Paliwal, Peter Kotikalapudi, Nishanth Ks and Shrivatsan Ragavan

Full article here: http://tometal.com/special-feature-gree ... l-roundup/

LIVE REVIEW! Fraser Fionn Wilson talks about Kreator's show in Manchester, with support from Aborted, Soilwork and Sepultura


Read his review here:
http://tometal.com/kreator-manchester-live-review/

FEBRUARY 2017 Highlights!

Hear ye! Hear ye! The staff here at Transcending Obscurity zine have put together their higlights for Feb 2017.

Featuring
Ancst - Furnace EP (Independent)
Benighted - Necrobreed (Season of Mist)
DispersE - Foreword (Season of Mist)
Black Star Riders - Heavy Fire (Nuclear Blast)
Exocrine - Ascension (Great Dane Records)
Immolation - Atonement (Nuclear Blast)
Infamovs - Under the Seals of Death (Memento Mori)
Lecherous Gaze - One Fifteen (Tee Pee Records)
Nailed to Obscurity - King Delusion (Apostasy Records)
Neocaesar - 11:11 (Independent)
Obitus - Slaves of the Vast Machine (Hypnotic Dirge Records)
Serenity In Murder - The Eclipse (Oyster Brothers Records)
Sinster - Syncretism (MASSACRE RECORDS)
Suicide Silence - S/T (Nuclear Blast)
Sunlight's Bane - The Blackest Volume: Like All the Earth Was Buried (Innerstrength Records)
Unearthly Trance - Stalking the Ghost (Relapse Records)
Wiegedood - De Doden Hebben Het Goed II (Consouling Sounds)

Full article here: http://tometal.com/february-2017-highlights-staff/

With words from Eric Seal, Chris Dahlberg, John Man, Pim Blankenstein, Nigel Holloway, Vidur Paliwal and Shrivatsan Ragavan

"The vocals are supported by massive, primitive doom metal riffs that carry a groovy sludge metal undercurrent. The crawling pace and sheer heaviness of the riffs in the opener Conjuration of Fire sound like mountains being moved around. The music of Bathsheba has such an enveloping atmosphere that and the band achieves this with straight forward riffs and moving melodic lead work."

BATHSHEBA's debut full length 'Servus' (released on Svart Records) reviewed: http://tometal.com/review/bathsheba-servus/

If you like sludge, doom, and any other type of heavy music that worships the riff, acquaint yourself with Black Bow Records!

We have an interview with label owner Jon Davis (who you may also know from Conan), as well as a highlight of recent and upcoming releases from the following bands:

1968
Battalions
Deadwound
Grim Ravine
Intensive Square
Nula Band
Tides Of Sulfur
Un
Witchapter

http://tometal.com/label-spotlight-blac ... d-kingdom/

"Each track on the album (minus the title track intro and the mid album interlude) feels like a love letter to the different facets that collectively make up the doom genre. These tracks all pay homage to the various veteran doom bands of the past. "


Dread Sovereign's second release "For Doom the Bell Tolls" (Ván Records) reviewed:
http://tometal.com/review/dread-soverei ... ell-tolls/

"The title of the album, ‘97,901,726 Confirmed Kills’ according to the band, is an estimate of the number of deaths that the US government is responsible for. In hindsight, I really shouldn’t have been as excited as I was with the title. However, the music contained in this album gives the listener every right reason to get hyped and excited. Pain Tank, a brand new entity hailing out of Washington DC, play a hyper violent mix of grindcore and traditional hardcore with lyrics about the ill effects of today’s consumerist society."

Shrivatsan wakes up from his month long slumber to write about Pain Tank's debut release '97,901,726 Confirmed Kills'. Check out the full review here:

http://tometal.com/review/pain-tank-979 ... med-kills/

"Musically, this is 15 minutes or so of blackened chaotic metallic hardcore. There’s more variety here though than that slightly inadequate description allows. The Grandfather are the type of passionate, creative band that I love to discover, and they bring the full force of this to bear over this EP."
Nigel Holloway reviews The Grandfather's 'I: Absent': http://tometal.com/review/the-grandfather-i-absent/

Woah! What a month March has been!
Check out this huge list that the TO staff put together for the Monthly Highlights Roundup for March 2017.
Featuring:
Ascended Dead - Abhorrent Manifestation (Dark Descent Records)
Allochiria - Throes ( Art of Propaganda)
buioingola. - Il Nuovo Mare (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)
Consummation - Ritual Severance (Invictus Productions)
DODECAHEDRON - Kwintessens (Season of Mist)
Official Darkest Hour - Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora (Southern Lord Recordings)
DOOL - Here Now, There Then (Prophecy Productions)
Fange - Pourrissoir (Throatruiner Records)
Fen - Winter (Code666)
Gorephilia - Severed Monolith (Dark Descent Records)
HIRS - TRANS GIRLS TAKEOVER 2K17 (Independent)
In the Company of Serpents - Ain-Soph Aur (Independent)
Jagged Vision - Death is this World (Fysisk Format)
Kürøishi - Poverty.Ignorance.Greed.Slavery (Fight Records)
Lantern (official) - II: Morphosis (Dark Descent Records)
Lunar Shadow - Far from Light (Cruz Del Sur Music)
MORAST - Ancestral Void (Ván Records / Totenmusik)
netra - Ingrats (Hypnotic Dirge Records)
Pallbearer - Heartless (Profound Lore Records)
Peter Bjärgö - Animus Retinentia (Cyclic Law)
Replacire - Do not Deviate (Season of Mist)
Sloth Herder - No Pity, No Sunrise (Grimoire Records)
SVART CROWN - Abreaction (Century Media)
Windswept - The Great Cold Steppe (Season of Mist)
Woe - Hope Attrition (Vendetta Records)


Read the full article here: http://tometal.com/march-2017-highlights-staff/

"While the crust punk flavored, eclectic grindcore of the first half stands in stark contrast with the miasmic sludge / doom of the second half, the split marries them in a way that fans of both styles will find something to enjoy. This is what split releases are all about after all."
The newest split from Cloud Rat and Moloch reviewed! The split is out now on Halo of Flies Records and Feast of Tentacles
Full review here:
http://tometal.com/review/cloud-rat-moloch-split-lp/

SPECIAL FEATURE:
For our next LABEL SPOTLIGHT feature, we turn to the UK and talk about Aesthetic Death.

Editor Kunal Choksi writes: "In my early years, I used to refer to them as being Esoteric’s label (as they released majority of the band’s catalog) and in the last decade, have unearthed some absolute gems such as Eibon, Murkrat, Fatim Elisum, Wreck of the Hesperus and more."

We also talk about some recent noteworthy releases under this label from bands including Throes Official, Mekigah, GOATPSALM, Lashblood, The Nihilistic Front and Whelm


Words from Dinesh Raghavendra, Eric Seal, Kunal Choksi and Shrivatsan Ragavan

http://tometal.com/label-spotlight-aest ... d-kingdom/

"Hexis is an entirely different beast with a sound that is much more suffocating and blackened compared to its peers. The band’s second full length release titled ‘Tando Ashanti’, out now on Halo of Flies and Alerta Antifascista, is easily one of the darkest and most depraved releases we’ve had from this sub sect of black metal yet."


Hexis' second full length 'Tando Ashanti' reviewed! Out now on Halo of Flies Records and Alerta Antifascista Records (official)
Full review here: http://tometal.com/review/hexis-tando-ashanti/

APRIL 2017 HIGHLIGHTS is here!

This time, featuring:

Abomnium - A Hollow Path (UKEM Records)
Archivist - Construct (Halo of Flies Records / Alerta Antifascista Records (official))
Artificial Brain - Infrared Horizon (Profound Lore Records)
Brume - Rooster (When Planets Collide)
Cult Cinema - Cosmic Horror II (Self Released)
HIVE - Parasitic Twin (Crown and Throne Ltd.)
Inferno - Gnosis Kardias (Of Transcension and Involution) (World Terror Committee)
Ingurgitating Oblivion - IO - Vision Wallows in Symphonies of Light (Willowtip Records)
Kyryem - Under the Sign of the Leo, Part 1 (Self Released)
Martyr Defiled - Young Gods (Century Media Records)
ORM - Orm (Indisciplinarian)
ROYAL THUNDER - Wick (Spinefarm Records)
Virulent Depravity - Fruit of the Poisoned Tree (The Artisan Era)
WOLFBRIGADE - Run with the Hunted (Southern Lord Recordings)

Full article here:
http://tometal.com/april-2017-highlights-staff/

Words by Chris Dahlberg, Wyeth Holman, Eric Seal, Vidur Paliwal, Nigel Holloway, John Man and Shrivatsan Ragavan

"Take the case of newcomers Crypt Rot, who recently released their debut effort ‘Embryonic Devils’ through Southern Lord Recordings. A broad descriptor of Crypt Rot’s sound would be death metal. The sound in the album however, shows strains from other extreme metal styles and incorporates all of them to form a sonic wall of destruction."

Crypt Rot's debut release on Southern Lord Recordings, 'Embryonic Devils' reviewed:

http://tometal.com/review/crypt-rot-embryonic-devils/

"The Polish death metal sound in general has always showed hints of black metal influence and this is especially true in Hate's case. This release sees them move further away from their death metal roots and embrace the black metal side of things, much like their counterparts in the scene."

HATEOFFICIAL's newest full length 'Tremendum' (out on Napalm Records) reviewed:
http://tometal.com/review/hate-tremendum/

"Full of Hell’s latest release on Profound Lore Records, titled ‘Trumpeting Ecstasy’ is a return of sorts to the band’s grindcore roots. With straightforward grind assaults the band is back doing what they do best. This is not to say that the album is simplistic, as the songwriting here shows otherwise."

Full of Hell's full length 'Trumpeting Ecstasy' reviewed. Album is out now on Profound Lore Records

http://tometal.com/review/full-hell-trumpeting-ecstasy/

" The musicians in White Ward are obviously talented, but they resist the urge to overplay at just about every opportunity. Even the saxophonist — a clear outlier in any metal band, and one that commands your utmost attention — is contributing to a greater vision."

Eric Seal reviews White Ward's debut release 'Futility Report' (album comes out tomorrow on Debemur Morti Productions)

http://tometal.com/review/white-ward-futility-report/

"While each element that make up Scordatura’s music is outstanding in it’s own right, it is the cohesiveness of the overall sound that impresses the most. Everything comes together to form this impenetrable, concussive wall of glorious noise."
Glasgow based brutal / tech death band SCORDATURA released their newest full length 'Self Created Abyss' a couple of months ago on Gore House Productions. Here's our review of the album:
http://tometal.com/review/scordatura-se ... ted-abyss/

"If you like safe, predictable song structures, turn back now. If you relish one-dimensional vocal stylings, cover your ears. If you crave another by-the-numbers genre offering, abandon all hope. The “Interequinox” has crested the bleak horizon like a poisonous sun, and with it, Dødsengel, Norway’s angel of death, comes knocking, swinging its scythe to sever your expectations of what black metal is capable of."

Dødsengel's fourth full length 'Interequinox' (released on Debemur Morti Productions) reviewed by Eric Seal:
http://tometal.com/review/dodsengel-interequinox/

"Where so many others seem to be trying to be solely focused on being as loud as possible, sticking with the heaviest and densest tonality the whole way through, this group builds from softer melodies and somber atmosphere into soaring climaxes."

Check out our full review of Corpse Light's full length debut, out tomorrow! Grab it from the band or Angry Love Productions.

http://tometal.com/review/corpse-light-mother-god/

"Vallenfyre since their inception have clearly been a death metal band whose initial works tied in doom metal elements to convey deep brooding emotions in a heavy and powerful way. Over the course of their albums, the band has been shifting more and more towards the Swedish death metal sound, with a hearty portion of crust and hardcore in the mix. The band’s third album ‘Fear Those Who Fear Him’ (released on Century Media Records) sees a continuation of this shift."


Vallenfyre's third full length release 'Fear Those Who Fear Him' (out on Century Media Records) reviewed! :
http://tometal.com/review/vallenfyre-fear-fear/

The Grindhouse Chronicles is back!!

Shrivatsan finally writes up #3 of his ongoing series about underground grind releases. This edition features

GENDO IKARI - Unit 1 (Mind Ripper Collective)
Lunatic Hooker - Embracing the Filth (Black Bow Records)
The Heads are Zeros - S/T (Self Released)
FUBAR - Weltschmerz (FDA Records)

https://tometal.com/grindhouse-chronicl ... ros-fubar/

"There are different aspects to Ashcloud’s sound that elevates them from being a straight-forward death metal act. First and foremost there is the raw, cavernous guitar tone and as a by product, you get a dense, almost crusty atmosphere that permeates this record. "


Ashcloud's third full length 'Kingdom of the Damned' (XTREEM MUSIC) reviewed!

https://tometal.com/review/ashcloud-kingdom-damned/